![[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/reading_a_big_number.png "[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???")
Bonus 100: Advice #2 - Fun linguistic experiments, linguistic etiquette, and language learning scena
Thursday, June 12th, 2025 08:59 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
allthingslinguistic_feedAre there linguistics things in your life that you would like advice about? In honour of our 100th bonus episode of Lingthusiasm, and because our first advice episode was so popular, here’s another episode answering your advice questions, from the serious to the silly!
In this bonus episode, Lauren and Gretchen get enthusiastic about your linguistics questions! We give advice about fun linguistics experiments you can do with your friends, aging out of the coolest slang demographic (it will happen to us all eventually!), and several etiquette questions, including how much to accommodate other people’s accents, asking about other people’s linguistic backgrounds, and getting people to stop correcting your grammar by rechanneling them into linguistic curiosity. Plus, many questions on learning languages in various scenarios: when you have mixed feelings about how they’re doing gender, when you want to connect with a heritage language, when you’re seeking opportunities to practise but don’t wanna be weird about it, and when you’re trying to learn a less popular language for your area. And finally: a lightning round of more questions!
Listen to this episode about your linguistics questions, and get access to many more bonus episodes by supporting Lingthusiasm on Patreon.
The true meaning of Metal
Thursday, June 12th, 2025 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
green_knightThere seems to be more than one band with a pink logo, but this song surely features the most metal instrument of all times:
the recorder.
(For Germans: This is Torfrock. Brings back memories. I got there via Platt folk songs: Dat Du meen Leevsten büst -> Nakich bün ick gor nich mehr so schmuck (from recommendations - c'mon, I had to listen to that [*]) -> other Torfrock songs -> WTF???)
[*] There's an English language folk song, 'I just don't look good naked anymore' of which this is riffing off. And in typical Torfrock manner, it's a lot more direct. ('schmuck' is an adjective used for attractive people, so... yeah. I still understand a fair bit of it. Not all, though, which is annoying.).
Of Dice and Bots
Wednesday, June 11th, 2025 03:29 pmgreen_knight( Same problem, different solutions )
I definitely need to find more opportunities to play DnD.
Meida Round Up: Crossdressing Girls and Other Disguises
Monday, June 9th, 2025 11:16 amforestofgloryLittle Thieves by Margaret Owen— This YA fantasy novel was really fun! There are lots of heists and disguises. All the moms are terrible but they aren't dead (being Death doesn't count). I really hated all italicized German words (it is not a problem that they were German I just hate it when “foreign” words are italicized, it's both othering and distracting to me as a reader) However this really sucked me in! It’s fast paced and twisty and the worldbuilding feels grounded.
Coffee Prince ep 5-20— I finished this classic of crossdressing girl media. It was cute and fun! I got a great comment on my post about crossdressing girl media about how crossdressing allows women to form friendships with men on more equal footing. This drama really leans into that and the pleasure of being ‘one of the boys” without having to justify oneself.
This did the best job of “The MC thinks he’s gay because he likes the crossdressing FL” that I’ve seen (Though I haven’t seen many) it could be even better but I was pleased with it nonetheless.
(Content note: Blink and you'll miss it miscarriage and fertility issues)
The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy— Somehow no one told me that it is a crossdressing story but trans. That is, the main character is a trans girl who starts the book thinking she’s a boy in disguise. Interestingly she "disguises" herself as a girl so that she can go out into the world and become a witch (mostly crossdressing men in media are trying to access "inner" spaces). The author even thanks Tamora Pierce in her acknowledgments, so it's very clearly part of that tradition.
What people did tell me about this book is that there are a bunch of meetings, in fact I was expecting more meetings based on how much people talked about them.There are some meetings, but they don’t drag out and are often summarized. But I was not expecting it to be quite as brutal as it was, there was a lot of fighting and some killing, and also quite a bit of phillosy about power and making choices. Definitely a book that gave me a lot to think about.
I don’t often go seek out reviews after I read a book, but this one I really wanted to see what other people said about it. I really liked Roseanna’s review.
The Truth Season 3 cases 4-5— I continue to really enjoy this show! I especially liked the set of costumes that looked part of a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also they have been playing with the format in fun ways with these two cases.
EHRC nonsense
Monday, June 9th, 2025 11:14 amlnrWe still haven't met with Senior Management: it's now due tomorrow, in person. I'm gently trying not to panic.
There's still been no message of support to all members of staff and students from the University, and nothing at all from the department. Though I understand they're still in discussions in the background. This is frustrating.
The subject was raised at a recent All Staff meeting (in which people submit questions as text, and senior management attempt to answer them). We were given broad assurances that the university values and supports trans people, but nothing actually useful or genuinely supportive was said.
In the meantime a new EHRC chair is due to be appointed, and they're considering a person with a known anti-trans background. There's an Open Letter available to sign in protest, written by a very good friend and colleague: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_Y77t7CQqKjdGifNa0lE3HKjDAb1UoJdjuLAbInhIQsRMhw/viewform
I've also seen a good template if you want to write directly: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1865KMfu24JgmwnWmYXaVc3jlzj5uQFEq69hXMxKP6BU/edit?tab=t.0
And I wrote my own version:
9th June 2025
Dear Women’s and Equalities Select Committee and Joint Committee on Human Rights,
Cc: Pippa Heylings, as my MP
I am writing to express my grave concern about the proposed appointment of Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson as the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
I won't include a string of references here, because I think you will have seen them all already, but I think it is imperative that the next person appointed as Head of the EHRC should not be seen to have a strong anti-trans background. Trans people are currently scared. Scared for their jobs, if they cannot access their workplace in safety and dignity. Scared of being assaulted if they go to the "wrong" toilet. Scared of being outed as trans in public if they try to follow the new guidelines.
And I am scared as a cis woman, a woman who is not trans, at what is happening in our country, and what this means for my friends and colleagues and for trans people in general. For intersex people, non-binary people, and any woman who might be mistaken for being trans. Other women need to feel safe too, but excluding trans people is not the way to do this.
The EHRC needs to stand up for the rights of everyone, and to be seen to do so. I sincerely hope you will take this into account.
Kind Regards,
Eleanor Blair
Great Shelford, Cambridge, CB22
I'm not even going to attempt to get into the member of the EHRC who was quoted as effectively saying that trans people have been misled about their rights under the Equality Act for the last 15 years, and there will now be a period of adjustment, but they should just get used to having fewer rights than they thought they did. The Guardian changed their headline and reporting three times as a result of her protesting about being misquoted, but that seems to have been the gist of it. Not mentioning that the "misleading" guidance came from the EHRC themselves, and was based on the previous understanding of the Equalities Act and entirely consistent with it. FFS
